The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

"Alec! Alec! Look at me, Alec!"

Ruth calls out desperately to the blonde.I can only see the top of my head, but it's not far enough to be ten meters.Normally, you should be able to hear enough by speaking up.

Alec!

But Alec never looked at Ruth.I put a viscous black liquid around me and it looks like it's going to be inhaled again.

"--I won't let you escape!"

Wait, Ruth!

As Ruth took a breath, he stepped away from Ed's hand and shoved his face into the black liquid.I threw my body into a crack on the floor and entered the Magic Cube.

"--Ruth!?"

As you swim in the water, you dive into the black liquid and fall deeper than the ground.The screams of my friends were getting smaller and smaller, but I didn't care.

"Alec! Alec!"

Loose, desperately scratching the viscous liquid apart from the black liquid, finally arrived at Alec, who was still floating in the black water.

(Told you!)

Touch your hair and grab the clothes on your neck.I moved my body desperately to raise Alec.

Alec closed his eyes as if he were asleep.Breathing is repeated quietly and the skin is warm.I felt the reaction of life.

"Alec... good."

The joy of finally being reunited makes my chest ache.

It may not have been a long time, but I feel sorry for the time it took Alec to come to my rescue.

(I won't let go anymore....)

Ruth hugged Alec's head to his chest.I miss the softness of my hair, the warmth of my skin, and the small breathing.

"Alec... Alec, wake up."

Alec didn't respond to Ruth's call.It seems like she's just sleeping, but she won't wake up at all even if she hits her face.

(No matter what happens... no, I'll wake you later.Anyway, we need to pull Alec out of here.)

Ruth was desperate to wake him up right away.Speaking so close and not waking up means something magical is happening.We need to get Alec out of this place sooner than that.

Quickly grab Alec's body and try to lift it with your hands on both sides.But my arms don't move well.When I shifted my body and asked how I was doing, I saw that I was holding something.

(My body....)

Alec was holding onto Ruth's body with his heart pulled out.It was a body, so to speak. But after a long time, Ruth's body did not rot and looked as if it had just fallen.

(Thank you, Alec....)

As Wonok predicted, Alec was always protecting Ruth's body.This keeps me in a collapsed state without rotting thanks to you.

Hurry, I'll pull you up.

Once again, Ruth pulled himself up on each side of Alec's body.High viscosity liquid is difficult to move, but when this happens, I feel glad it's not just water.Otherwise, it would have sinked long ago.

"Si! Si! Si!"

From the light shining above Ruth, the voices of his companions are slightly heard.I had to take him there somehow, and I kicked the liquid in desperately, but...

(Closed!?)

I found that the cracks in the light with my companions were narrowing down gradually.At first, it was big enough to get Ruth in, but now it's small enough to get to the level of whether or not he can handle it.

(We have to get out of there, we have to get out with Alec! Hurry up!

Ruth desperately kicked the black liquid and tried to move on.However, even if you can move quickly when you sink, you can't easily float with two people in your arms.

"Wait! Wait!"

The hopelessness of not moving forward shook Ruth's body.

"─ ─ ─!"

I can't hear my friends.The light of the other world becomes as small as a dot.

Wait, wait, wait.

Ruth's cry was groaning, and eventually the light on the other side disappeared, and the surroundings were closed to darkness.

------------

The breeze touched my cheeks and I saw the sunlight hitting my arm.I can hear the birds in the distance.

"Nh...?"

Ruth opened his eyes.I felt nostalgic.

I imagine you are in the forest during the day in the green scenery that enters your sight.Is the slightly hot climate the season between Aristotelian and Zenobian? It is suitable for napping and there are signs of eyelids falling again.--But I noticed a discomfort there.

"Nh? nh!? - Where are we!?"

Loose, who jumped out of the air, immediately postured himself and checked the surroundings.

There are no beast paths around in the woods.Based on the trees, plants, flowers, and terrain, we can predict whether it is in the mountains near Hashi village.I wonder if the time was in the morning, but it was still early in the day in the sky.

(Near Hashi Village? But there, the ark must have come out and collapsed from mountain to mountain... and I was just... that?)

Ruth leaned his neck to remember how he came here.

The ark came out, the Hashi village collapsed, and I remember exactly where I was on a boat called Gilmore.But I can't remember what happened after that.

"Did being in the woods mean you got off the ship? But why?"

No matter how much I thought about it, the answer didn't come to mind.

I feel like I've forgotten something, but I can't remember it at all.

"Anyway, let's go through the mountains, look for people and ask them where we are."

Having grown up with the mountain over the years, it's not good to be in the mountain without equipment.For some reason, Ruth is in the woods without even Orha on his side.Instead of being a monster, if you encounter a large animal and get attacked, you won't be able to stop.

I'm worried that my memory is blurred, but now it's time to go down the mountain.

"Still, it looks like the back mountain....."

Since it was close to the landscape in memory, Ruth ran naturally towards the village of Hashi.It felt like the village that was supposed to be gone existed again.

"Speaking of which, the sky is beautiful... what's going on?"

The sky that Ruth knew was dyed purple and hard to say beautifully.

And now looking up, the sky remains beautiful blue, as if the fact that Zagres opened the gates of the sky had disappeared.

"... it feels strange."

Beautiful blue skies, warm Aristotelian sunshine, and calm air - usually with a smile, but for some reason I am now struck by strong anxiety.

My guess is complaining that something is wrong.

As Ruth went down the mountain in a disgusting mood, he eventually saw the village.There are churches and central squares in villages with a small population, and there are also crops growing on high plateaux.

Ruth felt the cold in the landscape he had seen somewhere before.

"Ha-ha-ha village?"

What appeared in front of Ruth was a place that could only be thought of as the village of Hashi, where he was born and raised.

"Well... what do you mean? Hashi Village collapsed..."

I have heard that Hashi village, which existed near the ark, has completely collapsed and is no longer visible.Ruth has actually seen the collapse of the nearby mountain from Gilmore's ship.There can't be a village like that.

(I... I'm sure it's a similar village.... ah, there's a child over there!Let's ask!)

Fortunately, I saw a child standing alone at the entrance of the village, off Central Square.

Ruth hurried to the child.You look like a young boy, but if you ask me the name of this village, I will answer.

As you approach the side, the signs are revealed and your voice softened as much as possible.

"Um, hello, are you from this village?"

Ruth shook his back as he spoke.Ruth smiles so that he doesn't see his face yet, but doesn't scare him as much as he can.

"I want you to tell me that this village..."

"A-ah"

The moment Ruth saw the child looking back, he lost his words.

(Eh?!!?)

The child had green eyes on her beautiful golden hair and still had a sad look on her face.

(Well, what do you mean, what?)

Ruth was confused when he saw the child in front of him, and the child began to tremble with surprise.

"... ru,... rusu? Yeah, yeah?... Ruth's mother? "

I found the child's voice gradually fearing from confusion.The soft golden hair shakes small, and the big green eyes begin to weep slightly.

Your face, as cute as an angel, trembles with tears, and you even feel guilty even though you haven't done anything.--But that's not the problem.

"Ah... a, Lek...?"

The child who jumped out of the bush was not a stranger - he looked just like Alec.

That's what Ruth looked like when he was a kid, a weepy, lonely, angelic little Alec.

(Alec? Alec!? No, it's not like that, it's just another person's imagination... no, no, it looks just like him.)

Alec's appearance on his younger days is still clearly in Ruth's memory.There was no mistake in looking at it.

(…………………………………………………………………… What do you mean?)

In the unlikely event, Ruth convulsed and stiffened the smile she had in mind.

It only looks real, but there's no way that a real Alec looks like this.Conflicting feelings hit me, and I didn't know what to do with a boy like Alec.

However, the Alek-like boy who saw the expression increasingly twisted his face.

"Uhh... Ruth? Where's Ruth?! Ruth!"

Alek-like children stepped back one step or two, and when they reached the grass - Kuru turned around and ran away calling out Ruth's name.

"Eh!? Ah, wait a minute!Me, wait! Ruth, Ruth!?Loose who!? "

Looking at a child like Alec who suddenly ran away, Ruth chased him reflexively.My head is too cluttered and I don't know what I'm talking about.

(Ah, is that it?... Isn't she fast?)

I thought I'd catch up with him right away because he was a young child, but the distance didn't shrink.On the contrary, if you're distracted, you're getting more and more separated.

Soon, Ruth pursued the little back in pursuit of the beast, but he still wouldn't.

(What the hell is going on!?)

I don't know what's going on.My head was out of order.

Relax, I didn't decide she was Alec.It could really be someone else's imagination....)

There's no way Alec is the boy, he's mistaken - I tried to think so, but the more calmly I think about it, the more resemblance I realize.

Face changes, facial expressions, voice changes, and current behavior.

Alec ran away as soon as an unknown adult approached him.Because I was very scared and I didn't like adults in the first place.The way to escape was exactly the same as I remember.

(And anyway, let's talk calmly with her.)

I have no idea what's going on, but I need to talk to him to sort things out.

Ruth hastened his legs to catch up with the boy.

"Um, Me, what's your... name?It's not "Alec," is it? "

"No, Ruth! Ruth!"

"Wait! Talk to me!I'm not scared! Or is Ruth the Ruth Braw I've been talking about? "

"Uaaaaahn!"

Ruth runs and asks questions, and young Alec grows faster and faster as he screams.

(Wh... when you cry and run away, your heart's pounding.)

There is no certainty that he is Alec, but if he still cries to a boy who looks just like him, he feels like he's doing something really bad.

And since Alec was as cute as an angel when he was young, he was cute, too.Thanks to this, I don't feel guilty in half.I feel like a criminal.